14 December 2007

I walked in to work for the morning shift a few weeks ago, staffing the "flex pod" of the ER -- an area of acute care, monitored beds which we open from 10AM-2AM. There was, predictably, a row of patients lined up waiting for me to see them, as the charge nurses love to stack the pod before the doc even arrives. There were, however, no nurses in sight. I signed on to the computer and skimmed through the complaints to see what my morning was going to look like: two chest pains, one shortness of breath, one generalized weakness, one abdominal pain/vomiting. Not too bad; par for the course.

The tech wandered over and dropped the above ECG on my desk, from the generalized weakness patient. Any medical students out there, or readers who remember my previous post, The Wrong Juice, might recognize the wide QRS complexes and peaked T-waves as being highly suspicious for Hyperkalemia, a dangerous elevation of the potassium level in the blood. Elevated potassium will also cause muscle weakness, and is well-known for causing sudden death. It's one of those medical emergencies that make ER docs smile, because it's real, it's dangerous, it's dramatic, and we can fix it. A quick review of this patient's chart showed no history of kidney disease or any reason for elevated potassium, but the ECG changes were decidedly new. So I leaped into action.

Or I would have, except that there were STILL no nurses anywhere to be found. Where the hell were they? I went and briefly said "hi" to the patient and did a cursory history, noted that he did not have so much as an IV line started, and then went looking for a nurse. Finally, one strolled in, carrying her cup of coffee and chatting with the unit clerk; apparently they had gone off to the coffee stand while waiting for me to arrive.

I pounced on her: "The guy in bed D has a really abnormal ECG and I think he might be hyperkalemic, so let's get a line in him and an iStat ASAP."

She looked at me with a blank expression, "Oh, OK. I'll get right on it." And she turned back to the clerk to finish their conversation.

"No, I need you to do this NOW. This guy may well code on us if we don't get cracking!"

Visibly annoyed at my rudeness, she put down her coffee, rolled her eyes to the clerk, and shuffled off to the IV cart. Satisfied that she was on it, I wen on to see the waiting chest pain patient, with the instruction that she was to bring me the iStat as soon as it was back. Ten minutes later, I was finishing up with the chest painer who sounded like he might have unstable angina, and I came back to the nursing station to see the nurse sitting there drinking her coffee and continuing to gossip! "Where's the result on D?" I asked.

Nonchalantly, she replied "Oh, he was a hard stick and I couldn't get it, so I asked Betty to try."

I glanced in the room: there was nobody there. "So where the hell is Betty?"

"I don't know. She said she would be right over."

"Go get her right now and get an line in him!" With a sense of growing anxiety I went in to see the next chest painer, who had a history of several past heart attacks. I rushed through the H&P and came out to see the first nurse and Betty sitting there chatting amiably. "Well, do we have a line?"

"Oh, yes," Betty responded in a voice that made clear that she thought I was silly for being so worked up over such a little thing. She had been around for 30 years and thought all the doctors were like children, to be placated, but of no real importance. "But," she went on, "I got the line but it didn't draw, so I called for the lab to come draw the blood." She turned back to her conversation.

"Aaarrrgh! Get me a needle and I'll draw the damn blood myself!"

"Oh, don't be silly. Lab'll be here any minute." As I rooted through the drawer looking for a needle, I noticed the pulse ox on my next patient, who was short of breath, was 88%. Crap. Gotta prioritize. So I went to see that patient, hoping against hope that there might be SOMEBODY on shift today who would do their job. When I came out, the nurses had not moved, but they did confirm that the blood had been drawn.

"Where are the results?"

"I dunno. Maybe in the lab?"

Ultimately I had to personally walk down to the lab (not far, fortunately) to determine that yes, indeed, the patient's potassium was >9 (normal 3.5-4.5). On my way back I stopped by the charge nurse to discuss with her the fact that I had a very sick patient and the staff did not seem to share my sense of urgency. She promised to kick-start them, and fortunately, I had the patient treated and off to stat dialysis soon enough.

But the rest of the day was no different. Note that during this whole time the nurses weren't exactly jumping on the other patients, either. Getting anything done was like pulling teeth. I hate to rag on nurses, since without them I get nothing done, and many a good nurse has saved my ass. But good lord it's infuriating when you are stuck with the "B" team.

[Addendum: as Gruntdoc pointed out, criticizing nurses can be dangerous to your health, so note it's just the "B Team" that makes me crazy. And there are docs on the "B Team," too.]

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Shadowfax

About me: I am an ER physician and administrator living in the Pacific Northwest. I live with my wife and four kids. Various other interests include Shorin-ryu karate, general aviation, Irish music, Apple computers, and progressive politics. My kids do their best to ensure that I have little time to pursue these hobbies.

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This blog is for general discussion, education, entertainment and amusement. Nothing written here constitutes medical advice nor are any hypothetical cases discussed intended to be construed as medical advice. Please do not contact me with specific medical questions or concerns. All clinical cases on this blog are presented for educational or general interest purposes and every attempt has been made to ensure that patient confidentiality and HIPAA are respected. All cases are fictionalized, either in part or in whole, depending on how much I needed to embellish to make it a good story to protect patient privacy.

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